Yosemite Drops Reservation Requirement Earlier Than Planned — What to Know

The reservation system was initially supposed to end on Oct. 27.

By Alison Fox Alison Fox

Alison Fox is a Travel + Leisure contributor. She has also written for Parents.com, The Wall Street Journal, and amNewYork. When she’s not in New York City, she can be found at the beach or on the slopes. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines Published on October 16, 2024

Close Sunset over Yosemite National Park in California . Photo:

Annie Archer/Travel + Leisure

Yosemite National Park has ended its reservation requirements ahead of schedule, allowing travelers to drive into the park without having to book in advance.

The reservation system, which was initially scheduled to end on Oct. 27, instead ended after this weekend and is now no longer in effect, according to the National Park Service. Refunds will be automatically issued to travelers who purchased reservations for the remainder of this year.

“The reservation requirement was planned to extend through October 27, but based on our monitoring of visitor use patterns and impacts, we are ending a few weeks early,” the NPS wrote.

Visitors who drive to Yosemite must still pay the $35 per car park entrance fee when they arrive.

In a statement, the NPS said it would announce details by the end of this year on plans to manage visitor access for February and the summer of 2025. This year, reservations were required on some weekends in February as well as on Presidents’ Day in addition to the busy spring, summer, and early fall seasons.

“Yosemite has been grappling with congestion — even gridlock — for decades. We want to build from the lessons learned from the last three summer[s] of managed access,” the NPS wrote. “ We are currently developing the Visitor Access Management Plan in order to design an approach that provides a great visitor experience while protecting Yosemite's natural and cultural resources.”

Yosemite National Park is one of the most popular national parks in the United States, recording more than 3.8 million visits last year, according to National Park Service statistics. The California park is renowned for its giant sequoias, incredible hikes, towering waterfalls, and more.

Yosemite also wasn’t alone in implementing a reservation system. Other popular parks like Arches National Park, Glacier National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Zion National Park each had similar car- or hiking-based reservation systems in place this year to control crowds.